France obtains micro UAVs

Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor

The French Special Forces Command is now equipped[1] with an unspecified number of Skylark 1[2] and Wasp[3] Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The French Armament Procurement Agency (Direction générale de l'armement, DGA[4]) made the handoff on March 8th after awarding the contract for said UAVs to Israel’s Elbit Systems on 18 October 2009 and to AeroVironment on 4 November 2009.

Designed for recon/surveillance missions, the Wasp and Skylark are hand-launched UAVs, among the smallest of their type in the world. While the Skylark is employed by the Israeli Defense Forces (among other militaries), the Wasp has played a pivotal role in the US Armed Forces. The newest iteration, the Wasp III has a wingspan of 72 cm and a weight of 430 grams. It has a surveillance range of 5 km, endurance of 45 minutes, and speed of 40-65 km/h (25-40 mph). Like the Skylark, the Wasp can be autonomously piloted through GPS navigation.